The mayor’s race was too close to call on Tuesday night as just three votes separated candidates Todd Jirsa and Chuck Levine.

Jirsa was leading with 1,054 votes to Levine’s 1,051 in the preliminary, unofficial count.

Since the town is currently required by state law to send ballots to registered overseas voters, the law allows for those ballots to be postmarked on election day (April 5) and be received for eight days after the election.

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That means the town can receive those ballots through Wednesday, April 13, said Estes Park Public Information Officer Kate Rusch. Then the ballots will be counted on Thursday, April 14. The final canvassing of the election results and their release will be Friday, April 15.

Rusch said that 30 ballots were sent to overseas addresses. As ofWednesday afternoon, the town clerk’s office has received four completed overseas ballots. Six more were returned “undeliverable.”

That means there is a possibility of 20 more overseas ballots to be received and counted. In addition to those possible 20, the town’s designated election official -- the town clerk -- has set aside 15 ballots from the election to be counted along with the returned overseas ballots.

The election Tuesday was not just about the mayoral race.

Estes Park residents also voted to fill three vacant trustee seats. Those seats will be filled by Cody Walker, incumbent Ron Norris, and Marty Martchink.

“I feel real good about it,” Norris said. “It means I have four more years of interesting work. And, this will be a different board with two new trustees and a new mayor. We will have to learn to work together.

“But, that shouldn’t take so long.”

Martchink, who at 32 is believed to be the youngest town board trustee in more than 30 years, said he was shocked and surprised “but in a good way” to be elected.

“I know I had a pretty strong reach and following,” Martchink said. “I think people were ready for a change (to elect a younger trustee).

“I am looking forward to offering a (younger) voice that hasn’t been heard in a while.”

Walker said his election was about a shift in the community’s dynamic.

“It’s not so much about me but more about the message,” Walker said. “It’s more that they (residents) want to be heard and to be represented.”

Once the election count has been made official, the new mayor and trustees will be sworn in during the April 26 Estes Park Town Board meeting.

Meanwhile, the mayoral candidates are in a wait-and-watch mode and, at the same time, eager to see what the outcome will be.

“I’m anxiously awaiting the outcome of the election,” Jirsa said Thursdaymorning. “I’m ready to get started. And, I couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome of the trustee election. I’m very pleased with the election of Cody Walker and also Patrick Martchink.

“I think it signals a real turning point in (local) politics. I couldn’t be more excited about it.”

Levine admitted that he’s focusing on his other obligations (like his role on the Park Hospital District) and trying to not spend too much time analyzing what the close mayor’s race means. But, that doesn’t mean he hasn’t given it some thought.

“It is what it is. I still don’t know what it really means … it was such a surprise,” Levine said. “I thought one or the other of us would convince most of the people since we were so much in disagreement on some things.”

Levine did say, after some thought, that the closeness of the race might be indicating that there is a “big rift” in the community and “whichever one of us is elected is going to have to do a lot to heal that rift.”

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